MARTINEZ TO RETIRE

First term Republican Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, who briefly served as RNC chair in 2007, will not run for reelection in 2010. This is huge news, as there will probably be a mammoth battle for this Senate Seat. State CFO Alex Sink, the democrat's strongest potential challenger, said yesterday that she would not challenge Martinez, but is rumored to now be reconsidering her decision. On the republican side state Attorney General Bill McCollum, who was defeated by Martinez in the primary 6 years ago, put out a statement that he was considering a bid. Another possibility is popular Fmr. Governor Jeb Bush, who would be the frontrunner if he ran (though it seems doubtful that he will.) Other potential Republican candidates include Fmr. State House Speaker Marco Rubio, State Senate President Jeff Atwater and Reps. Ander Crenshaw, Adam Putnam, and Connie Mack IV. On the democratic side potential candidates include Sink, State Senator Dan Gelber and Reps. Allen Boyd, Kathy Castor, Kendrick Meek, Rob Wexler, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Ron Klein. It will be a very interesting race

and who knows, maybe Katherine Harris will throw her hat into the ring again. (kidding)

Update: Congressman Allen Boyd, a centrist from the Tallahassee area, released a statement saying he is considering a run. Boyd would be a very good general election candidate, but it seems unlikely that he would be able to win a democratic primary, as he is both a centrist and hails from the north while the majority of democratic primary voters live in southern Florida.